Venezuela gets a lot of attention in the news these days, and most of it is bad. President Hugo Chavez's leftist politics, his dealings with Iran and his personal attacks on our president regularly dominate the coverage of this South American nation that was once a great political and economic ally of the United States. (We still import more than 1.3 million barrels of oil per day from Venezuela, making it the fourth largest supplier of oil to the U.S.)

I've fished down there probably eight times over the past 15 years, making regular excursions during the country's heydays in the late 1990s before the infamous mudslides killed some 30,000 people. Back then, Venezuela's fishing scene chugged along on all cylinders; the Sheraton Macuto Resort was still open and hosting Richard Gibson's Grand Slam Tournament in October and Rick Alvarez's International Blue Marlin Tournament in the spring. Tami Noling ran Marina Portofino. The fish jumped all day, and the Slam Shack jumped all night. With the large fleet of boats out finding the fish every day, everyone usually got a shot at the bite. Once a boat started seeing fish, the captain would quickly get on the radio and summon the fleet, a tradition that carries on today.

On some days, the life in the water stunned you into silence. Huge flocks of frigates wheeled endlessly over pods of feeding whales, while dozens of white marlin swooped in to pick up the stragglers.

While fishing with Capt. Dave Noling on the Courtesan one fall day, we came across one of these amazing feeding frenzies and watched as 20 electric-blue white marlin surfed down a wave and into the spread, attacking the teasers and baits two and three at a time. Later that same day, a whale glided through the spread, passed under the transom and jumped about 30 feet away on the other side of the boat. Oh, and an 800-pound mako ate the left bridge teaser.

Now, I consider myself a lucky guy, but during my first three trips down, each consisting of four fishing days, the boats I fished on caught at least three billfish a day.

Just three years ago, I enjoyed the best blue marlin fishing of my life with Capt. Jimmy Grant, who was running the Matanza at the time. During three and a half incredible days in May, my two friends and I caught 19 blue marlin (out of 22 bites), six sails and a 140-pound yellowfin tuna. Needless to say, I'm a big fan of the place.

Devastating Setback
December 15, 1999, marks a day of tragedy in Venezuela's history. During that night, tons of rock and earth, loosened by several days of constant rain, broke loose from the 6,000-foot-high mountains and roared through the valleys and towns, entombing more than 30,000 people in mud. The devastation was inconceivable. Rocks the size of houses flushed down the mountain, crushing everything in their path, and rivers of mud rose to the third stories of some buildings, encasing the lower floors in a concrete-like mix of sand and mud.

In Caraballeda, the small port town that hosts most of the fishing fleet, the slides miraculously lost most of their momentum, but still managed to cripple the multimillion-dollar Hotel Meliá Caribe, flooding the basement and destroying the air-conditioning units. The crown jewel of the area, the Sheraton Macuto, suffered little or no damage, but the resulting economic disaster proved to be the death knell for the once active spot, and the doors never reopened.

Jeff West's Marina Portofino escaped damage as well, but the apartment building and its attending slips right next door were hit by a tidal wave of mud. The flow rushed through the basement of the building and exploded out through two doors facing the marina, sinking the two boats sitting in the slips in front of them.

But the real tragedy fell upon the local captains and mates who lost homes, transportation and in some cases, family members to the torrential floodwaters.

Capt. Bubba Carter woke up the next day to chaos and said at the time, "It was worse than terrible. The mountain just came falling down through the valleys. There was no road, no cities; Macuto just went away. We were totally cut off for three days. There was no food, water or law — it was a challenge for many just to stay alive."

During that same year, Dave Noling broke his own blue marlin record for the year, catching 294 blues in 194 days of fishing. Noling made his career fishing the incredibly fish-rich waters off the La Guaira Bank, earning the title of Tag/Flag Atlantic Blue Marlin Captain of the Year four years running in 1996, '97, '98 and '99. However, it would take quite a while for things to return to some semblance of normal in Caraballeda.